20 fJune, , 



Rev. John llellins, M.A. — We deeply regret to announce the death of the Kev. 

 John Hellins, which took place in the early morning of Monday, May 9th, from an 

 attack of erysipelas of the throat, •wliicli only commenced the previous Saturday, i 

 Mr. Hellins had nearly completed his u8th year, having been born on the 15th May, 

 1829 ; he was thus considerably younger than his friend William Buckler, whom he 

 survived little more than three years. , 



John Hellins will always be best known from his long connection with William | 

 Buckler in the task of describing Lepidopterous larvae, and since the latter's death | 

 he ably assisted the Ray Society by writing many additional descriptions, which have 

 appeared in the two volumes of Buckler's " Larvae of British Butterflies and Moths " 

 already published. 



Mr. Hellins entered at All Saints' College, Oxford, whore he took his B.A. 

 degree in 1851. In 1852 he was ordained Deacon, and Priest in 1854. He was for 

 some time Second Master at the Exeter Grammar School, but, in 1859, he became 

 Chaplain to the Devon County Prison, in succession to his father. Some six or seven 

 years ago he was threatened with blindness from cataract, and had to retire from this 

 position, and his health seemed thoroughly broken. Prolonged absence from work, 

 and rest amid strange scenes in Switzerland and elsewhere, had a recuperative effect, 

 and he returned to Exeter with improved health and one useful eye, and was again 

 able to undertake some clerical duties, and resume his entomological occupations. 

 He must have commenced the pursuit of Entomology early in life, but wc are not 

 able to supply the precise date. His entomological diaries are continuous from 1857 

 to 1887 (the last entry being made on the Saturday he was taken ill), and the diary 

 of 1857 is evidently not the work of one then just commencing the study. He was 

 a very successful rearer of larvse from the egg, and a close and patient observer ; a 

 constant and ready correspondent, and a faithful friend ; so that he will be much 

 missed by a large circle. 



A list of his descriptions of larvte appeared in our Vol. xx, pp. 232, 233, when 

 we were noticing his labours in connection with those of his friend, W. Buckler. 

 The work on which Mr. Hellins was specially engaged at the time of his death was 

 the description of the larvae that will be figured in the forthcoming Yol. iii of 

 Buckler's book, of which figures but no descriptions had been left by Mr. Buckler. 

 In this task Mr. Hellins had enlisted the aid of numerous friends, who, after the 

 long chilly spring, were hoping, with warmer weather, to be able to assist him with 

 more frequent samples of larvae. At the earnest solicitation of the Eay Society, Mr. 

 W. H. B. Fletcher, of Fairlawn House, Worthing, Sussex, has kindly undertaken to 

 take up the broken thread of Mr. Hellins' work, and the Eay Society will feel much 

 obliged to those wlio had hoped to forward larvae to Mr. Hellins in the ensuing 

 season, if they will now be so good as to make Mr. Fletcher the recipient of their 

 contributions. 



Mr. Hellins leaves a widow and a son and daughter to deplore the loss of an 

 affectionate husband and father. This is not the place to enlarge upon his private 

 virtues. Ho occasionally made his entomological friends his confidants in private 

 matters, and there are those among us who can testify to the noble and self-sacrificing 

 character of the man in connection with his endeavours to assist discharged prisoners 

 who had been under his care. 



